Snow Day
by Gypsyn
Summary: Three days before Christmas snow falls in Tokyo, closing the schools and bringing general mayhem, and Kagome wants to be there to enjoy it! But what happens when Inuyasha gets dragged into it too? (InuXKag)


-Beep!- Beep!- Beep!- -THWACK!-

Kagome's hand hurt from the completely unnecessary amount of force she'd used to silence her alarm clock, but she didn't care. It felt good to take out a little of her frustration on something.

Sighing, she dragged her sore hand back into the warm bed and snuggled up there, unwilling to face another exhausting day. The fights in Inuyasha's time had been harder lately. And come to think of it so had the tests on her side. Kagome was good and ready for a break. ANY break, however small.

But before she had a chance to fall back to sleep, Kagome's door was suddenly flung wide, startling her into an upright position as her younger brother rushed into the room and leaped onto her bed in celebration.

"Kagome wake up! It's great!"

"What's great?!" Kagome fumed once her initial surprise had departed.

"Just look outside!" he replied, continuing to jump on her bed in pure joy. "We'll be out of school for ages!"

Kagome shot him a look of confusion as his bouncing jostled her, then reached up grabbing him and forcing him to his knees in front of her.

"Whoa slow down," she commanded. "Why would we be out of school? What happened?"

His smile widened and he took her hand pulling her out of bed toward the window. "I already told you! Just look outside!" he laughed, his eyes shining gleefully.

Kagome offered no further argument as he pulled aside her curtains and made her step forward.

Outside, she was shocked and amazed to see a thick blanket of snow covering their yard. She stared at the sea of white in deep surprise. Souta, on the other hand, continued his celebrating and ran out of the room shouting and cheering in triumph.

After a short moment of confusion and realization, Kagome scrambled to join him. She pulled on a thick pink sweater and a pair of jeans with thick socks and raced out of the room and down the stairs almost as excitedly as her brother had.

In the kitchen, their mother was already busy with making breakfast and their grandfather was attempting to get her youngest to settle down at the table. An impossible task. Souta sat in his chair rocking it back and fourth in his excitement. He was now wearing his snow pants, a sweater, and a pair of wool socks.

"Just to be sure that the schools are closed we should check with the local news first," Grandpa Higurashi told the boy as he left the table to fidget with the radio by the fridge.

"Aw, but you know the trains have gotta be down!"

"Even if they are down, the school could still be open and if they are and you don't go they'll count it against you," Kagome sighed knowingly.

"Like you're one to talk," he replied with a pout. "You're off having cool adventures with Inuyasha-oneesan while I'm stuck going to school every day."

She glared back at him. "Look, if I could go to school more I would. You have no idea how easy you have it," she grumbled back.

"Now now you two stop fussing!" Mrs. Higurashi exclaimed over the sounds of cooking food. "I thought you were both excited?"

"I am!" Souta declared instantly distracted from the argument.

"Several-bzzzt-nesses pipelines-bzzzt-," interrupted a gargled voice from the radio.

"Darn thing," grumbled the old man, giving it a light whack.

"Or we could try the tv?" Kagome suggested.

"Not now, I've almost got it!" he replied distractedly as he returned to turning the dial this way and that.

Kagome sighed.

"-Bzzzzzzzzt- Okay! Repeating the list of closed schools."

"Ah! You did it!" Souta cheered happily.

"Of course I did," their elder proclaimed proudly. "Did you ever really doubt me?"

"Not for a moment." Kagome's mother assured him smilingly as she carried two plates of food over to the table. She placed them in front of each of her children and went back to the stove to cook the next batch.

Kagome looked down to see a plate steeped high with pancakes and smiled.

"-Tokyo university is closed along with the high schools in-"

"Is your friend coming over today?" Mrs. Higurashi asked looking back pointedly in Kagome's direction.

The girl looked up and shrugged before taking a big bite of pancake. "Not sure," she replied once she'd swallowed.

"-Hibiya high school is closed, Azabu high school is closed-"

Souta groaned. "I don't care about the high school guys," he whined over the sound of the radio. "What about the elementary schools!?"

"Be patient!" Kagome snapped in between bites, "The middle schools are next!"

"-Ah, good news!-" the radio exclaimed happily. "-The last of the schools have called into the station and I'm pleased to tell you, students, that all the schools for the Tokyo district are closed!-"

"SNOW DAY!" Souta sang joyfully, jumping from his seat and his half finished meal to run toward the coats.

"SNOW DAY! SNOW DAY! snow day! snow day!"

Everyone else at the table sighed.

'Well I guess that includes the middle schools too,' Kagome thought happily before turning back to her food.

Mrs. Higurashi looked back at her daughter again. "Kagome dear once you're done, please make sure Souta doesn't get too carried away out there."

"Right."

"-we are up to 8 inches of snow at this point listeners, and our sources are reporting that there could be more later on. So I hope you already have supplies!-" carried on the radio cheerfully in the background. Kagome made a sound of understanding at the forecast.

Eight inches certainly explained why the schools were closed. Six inches of snow had been more than enough to ground the trains and close the roads last year, so it wasn't surprising that 8 inches accomplished the feat that much more smoothly. Last year they had even had a power shortage with the snow and a lot of people had gotten ruptured pipes in their businesses and homes.

Snow always made things a bit chaotic in Tokyo. Kids had it pretty good though, at least compared to the kids in other parts of the world that still had to go to school even in eight feet of snow.

Kagome quickly finished her breakfast and followed after her brother collecting her light fleece coat, her boots, and her scarf on the way out the door just to see Inuyasha unhappily trudging his way through the snow toward her.

Despite his obvious displeasure with the weather, Kagome smiled and ran toward him.

"Inuyasha! When did you get here?"

"What the hell's got you so happy?" he grumbled in return.

Her smile turned to a look of concern. "Are you cold?" she asked worriedly.

"Hell no," he scoffed shooting her a stubbornly proud expression.

"Oh wow and Inuyasha-oneesan is here too?!" Souta asked, practically bouncing up to the pair.

"Yep," Kagome answered before the half demon had a chance to deny anything.

The half-demon snorted and brushed past her into the house.

Kagome and Souta watched him go inside and shot each other looks of confusion.

The older sibling sighed. "Here, I'm going to go see what his plans are. So for now, promise you won't leave the front yard okay?"

He nodded. "You know, maybe while there's snow you should give him your present early?" the boy suggested.

"Good idea," Kagome agreed before heading in after their half demon guest.

She took off her boots as she reentered and found him sitting at the table with his own plate of food.

"Did you KNOW I was coming?" Inuyasha asked Kagome. She blinked at the dish and came to sit across from him where she could see out the front window into the yard.

"No why?"

"Because your mother just scolded me for bein late to breakfast and gave me this," he said nudging his stack of pancakes with a clawed finger.

Kagome chuckled. "Must have been her mother's intuition."

Inuyasha looked at her funny, shrugged and wolfed down the pancakes like a man starved. Then he rose gracefully to dump his dishes in the sink and retreat to the living room. Kagome finally took her eyes off Souta and his half finished snowman to follow after him.

"...Why is there a tree in your house?" the half demon asked quizzically as he stopped in her way.

Kagome looked past him at her family's Christmas tree. It was standing in the corner of the room, decorated from top to bottom with small red green glass balls and various other little decoractions. resting beneath was an array of colorful boxes. She then turned her attention to the back of his head.

"It's a Christmas tree. I already told you and everyone else about Christmas, remember?

"Keh, didn't realize you were bein serious," he said before finally entering the room. Kagome sighed and followed.

"So what's up? You're here a little earlier than we agreed."

"You got a problem with me be'in here?" he asked wryly, but the question had no bite behind it.

"No. Not at all," she told him without concern.

The half-demon snorted but didn't seem too bent on starting an argument with her. Instead, Inuyasha seemed to notice there was a vacancy in his new favorite spot in the living room. The spot in front of the space heater.

He rapidly moved in on the space with a telling sound of victory and Kagome had her reason for why he'd come early. The nice cozy house, good food, and the convenience of her family's heaters.

She almost laughed at how obvious he was being but for the sake of bettering his mood, she kept quiet until the urge passed and then stepped up behind him.

He looked back defensively, obviously worried that she was about to try and shoo him away from his warm spot. "What NOW?" he asked impatiently.

Kagome raised an eyebrow and frowned. "I have a gift for you,"

His ears perked and a curious expression crept into his eyes. "A gift?" he asked in confusion.

"Yes, a gift," she repeated with an annoyed look. "But I don't know if you should get it if you're just going to keep acting like I'm an eyesore," she told him, twirling around on her heel to walk away

Inuyasha winced very slightly and reached over, snagging her sleeve before she could march away.

"You're not an eyesore," he told her quickly.

Kagome narrowed her eyes at him. "Then does that mean you're going to quit snapping at me?" she asked.

He hesitantly nodded.

The miko sighed. "Fiiine, your gift is over by the tree. But you'd better go get it before you say something that makes me change my mind," she grumbled half-heartedly.

He glanced back at the heater longingly but sighed and stood up heading over to the Christmas tree.

"So... which one is it?" he asked, looking at the pile of wrapped objects.

"The biggest one, in the back."

He walked around to the back of the pile and quickly found the largest box in the pile. a big wooden chest with a large bright red ribbon stuck on top.

'Well whoever wrapped this one was lazy,' Inuyasha thought dryly, shooting the girl in question a look.

"What?" she asked in an embarrassed huff.

"Nothin," He told her, pulling the chest from the pile and carrying it over to the couch. There he sat beside Kagome and placed the box in front of them. Then he looked at her expectantly.

"Well go on open it," she urged with a slightly anxious look.

He turned back to the chest and undid the latch, pushing back the lid to reveal a pile of clothes neatly folded beside a pair of boots.

Inuyasha blinked and reached inside, pulling up the article of clothing laying on top of the pile.

It was made out of soft dyed black leather, lined inside and along the edges with white wool. But it was more like a long vest than a winter coat. Its length went from his shoulders to his knees with splits in the sides for long strides. But it was missing sleeves.

"Why is it missing the sleeves?" he asked aloud.

"Because thick sleeves would have just gotten in your way. You use your sleeves to shield yourself in fights and I didn't want to take away from your defense. Besides, the cold doesn't seem to effect you as much as it does us so it seemed to be more important to have the flexibility."

"..."

"If you don't like it I can-"

"No. It's fine like this."

She hesitated but nodded and let him look back to his gifts.

Also Inside The box, was a thick matching winter hat and fingerless gloves And sitting beside them was a pair of waterproofed black leather boots That vaguely reminded him of Sesshomaru's shoes. Vaguely.

The fingerless gloves he felt were self explanatory, so he didn't ask about them. The fur lined hat however left him wondering if she was hinting that he should hide his ears in his era as well as hers. Before he could say anything though Kagome flew into an excited explanation.

"I thought the hat would be nice for ice storms when your ears are usually completely unprotected, but I can't really see you using it for normal chilly weather because you wouldn't be able to hear properly. So I just included it with the set and you can decide if it's a good day to wear it or not. Sango provided the boots. Otherwise I would have never been able to find shoes that fit your clothes and were made for fighting in. You should thank her for those."

"And the chest?"

"That's for you as well. I know you can't take it with you when we travel but I thought you could use it for storage or something and leave it somewhere safe. Even if you don't put anything else inside, it would be good for storing your winter clothes over season. There's a lock and a key at the bottom of the chest to go with it that should be enough to keep out nosy humans at least."

In all honesty, he found himself deeply humbled and touched by such useful and thoughtful gifts. The only items he actually owned were the clothes on his back, the rosary and Kagome's locket. It felt pretty good to be able to add to that.

"Do you like everything?" she asked timidly. "Do you think you'll use it?"

He blushed deeply but could offer none of his usual gruff rebuttals. He struggled with himself, feeling put on the spot but also humbled by her thoughtfulness. "Kagome I... I don't really know what to say. You didn't have'ta do all this."

"I just really wanted to."

"But I don't have anything to give you in return," he responded a little helplessly.

"You made that potion for me when I got sick right?"

"You've bandaged me up more than a few times "

"And you've given me fish and rabbits and boars you caught yourself."

"And you gave ME ramen and chips and steaks."

"And you've saved my life a bunch of times."

"You've saved mine too! "

Kagome sighed. "Inuyasha, Christmas is a modern holiday. I don't expect you to get me a gift for a holiday that for all you know I could have made up. It's just that you're really important to me and... well I just wanted to give you something. I don't need anything in return, really. So long as you like the gift I'm happy. I don't need anything else."

"I still want to give you something in return."

Kagome sighed and shrugged. "I gave you your gift early so that you could use it in the snow, but Christmas is still in three days. It's customary to trade gifts then so if you want to give me something you still have time."

"Is there anything you want?" he asked curiously.

she blushed and looked away a little

"...Would you maybe want to spend Christmas day with me?"

"Is that what you want?" he asked with a look of perplexion.

She nodded. "Besides everyone else in my family got you gifts too," she pointed out, nodding to the pile of wrapped parcels under the tree. "It might disappoint my family if they couldn't give you their gifts too."

He blinked at the colorful packages. "What did they get me?" he asked, immediately leaning toward the pile with interest. '

she smiled and shook her head. "I can't tell you, that would ruin the surprise."

"Is that why they're all wrapped funny?"

"yep."

"That's dumb, If I really wanted to know I could just smell em..."

"Don't you dare! That's cheating!" she scolded, taking his hand and attempting to tug him away from the presents.

He smirked at her. "You've got some too right? You, not the least bit curious?"

"You're terrible!" she laughed, finally managing to lead him back to his already opened gift away from the other presents.

Inuyasha looked down into the chest filled with his new clothes.

"...You went through a lot of trouble to get me all this didn't you?" he asked, flashing her a knowing look.

The girl shrugged. "I guess so. This really isn't the type of clothing that's common in my era. But Mom has a friend whos a seamstress and she gave me a discount. it was still a little expensive but... I thought you might like a useful gift and I had a lot of my allowance saved up anyway..."

At the bottom of the box, he noticed one more item he hadn't seen the first time. It was made of red cloth. Reaching inside, he pulled it out revealing a red scarf.

To his mild surprise, Kagome didn't explain. She just blushed and looked away.

"And this?" he asked expectantly.

"It's a scarf," she replied softly. "I-It goes around your neck."

"It doesn't match the rest of the stuff you got me," he pointed out with a curious expression.

Her blush deepened with a look of embarrassment.

"I didn't get it with the other things. I um... I made it."

Inuyasha blinked and looked the scarf over.

"If you don't like it, you don't have to wear it! I know it's not as nice as any of the other stuff I got you so-"

The half-demon silenced her by taking the scarf and pulling it under his hair to wrap snuggly around his neck.

"Like this?" he asked, looking the scarf around her neck and then back down at his own for comparison.

Kagome's blush deepened but she seemed to take his action as a good sign. "It looks good," she told him meekly.

At the small praise inuyasha flashed her a fanged grin and started pulling on his other new clothes. Kagome practically beamed at him, her scent openly revealing her excitement and releif. She'd obviously been putting this together for him for awhile now. Usually, he hated when Kagome kept secrets from him, but this was a good one.

Screw the heater, it was a snow day.

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Authors notes

Part 1 of my very late Christmas fic. there will be a part two out eventually but I don't know when that might be.


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